Here's how Toby Abse responded to our 3 Key Demands, along with our traffic light evaluations of their responses:
INCREASE: Green●●●
We also believe in a return to rent control of the kind that existed before the Thatcher era ,something which would prevent the exploitation of all tenants by greedy private sector landlords ; whilst crippling rents are not just a student problem and affect many working and unemployed people in the borough, we are aware they are a particular problem for students , especially in central London.
REVERSE: Green●●●
We believe not just in the reduction of fees ( as Labour claim to) but the abolition of fees ( not just Clegg’s tripling but Blair’s original introduction of tuition fees)
PROTECT: Green●●●
We would abolish post graduate fees – I am aware that post graduate students are often in a worse financial position than undergraduate ones and able people are often deterred from post graduate study by the cost of both supporting themselves and paying the fees, whilst those who do study for taught postgraduate courses often have to work for long hours and low pay to the detriment of their studies. I think it would probably be unrealistic to abolish international fees altogether, since unlike home students many will not stay in the UK and contribute to society via income tax and so forth but they should be linked to personal or, where appropriate, family income rather than being set at a fixed ( and very high rate). This is my personal view; we have never discussed international fees as an organisation as far as I can recall.